John 15:5
"I am the Vine and you are the branches, He who abides in Me and I (Jesus) in him bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing".
The vine exists to nourish, feed, and grow the branches, the branches exist to bear the fruit of the vine. No one would ever approach a vineyard and make a distinction between a vine and the branches. When we look at a vineyard we recognize it is as just that, a place where the vine grows.
Read the above paragraph again, to understand the functions of the vine in the vineyard. A branch is nourished, fed and grown because of the existence of the Vine. Biblically the Vine represents Jesus and we his people are the branches. There is a famous catholic church funeral hymn with a title 'Abide in me', it is almost sung in every catholic funeral before the coffin is lowered for the burial, nothing wrong with the song but the time it is sung maybe it's not suitable because the person is almost dead and now he/she cannot abide with the Lord anymore.
While we are still alive, we have a chance to Abide i.e. (dwell, submit, subject, obey, accept, act in accordance, remain, hold unto) the Lord. Today ask yourself one question, where am I in proximity to Christ? Abiding addresses our posture and place in Jesus. We have abided in every law, rules and regulations of this world even when it has been forcefully imposed on us. But what about Jesus, the Son of God, who never imposed anything upon us, in this case why have we failed terribly in our walk with God?
Why the things of God are taken for granted even when it has no restrictions whether we obey God or no.
We all have observed, in our own christian families and societies, when it comes to things related and connected to God, it is like a floating option, you may accept it or ignore it. There is absolute no seriousness, reverence and awe to it. A list of common and compromising optional duty in christian homes - Sunday school for kids, Bible reading and study for youths and adults, observing a day of prayer and fasting, family prayer, discussing on scriptures for enhancement and growth with family members (rarest of rare), the above list to abide in the Lord is no more a to- do list in our homes, then how can we expect that we as branches can abide in the Vine (Jesus), as we have cut off from everything that will help us to remain in the Lord. We have kept God as an option and an emergency number to dial when in trouble. In many cases, we have stopped being fed, nourish and growing spiritually.
Prayer - Dear Holy Spirit, forgive me for being so casual in my duties towards you as a christian. Help me and restore back me my first Love that is Jesus Christ. Give me grace O Lord to abide in your forever in Jesus name.
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